Public Documents, Private Documents and Certified Copies under Sections 74, 75 and 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872
Sections 74, 75 and 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 classified documents as public or private and prescribed how a person entitled to inspect a public document could obtain its certified copy. This article explains the law as it stood immediately before the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 came into force on 1 July 2024.
Meaning and importance of the classification
The Evidence Act distinguished between public documents under Section 74 and private documents under Section 75. Section 76 dealt with certified copies of public documents. The classification matters because the Act separately regulates the manner in which public documents may be proved, including through certified copies under the provisions that follow Section 76.
Section 74 - Public documents
Definition: Section 74 treated the following as public documents:
- documents forming the acts, or records of the acts, of the sovereign authority;
- documents forming the acts, or records of the acts, of official bodies and tribunals;
- documents forming the acts, or records of the acts, of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive, of any part of India or of a foreign country; and
- public records kept in any State of private documents.
In practical terms, the section focuses on official acts and official records, as well as public records in which private documents are kept. A document does not become a public document merely because it has been filed with or is physically held by a public office; its character must be examined under the statutory classification.
Section 75 - Private documents
Definition: Section 75 provided that all other documents are private. It therefore operated as the residual category: a document not falling within Section 74 was a private document for purposes of this part of the Evidence Act.
Private documents ordinarily require proof in accordance with the applicable provisions governing documentary evidence, execution, signatures, attestation and primary or secondary evidence, depending on the nature of the document and the issue before the court.
Section 76 - Certified copies of public documents
Definition and duty: Section 76 required every public officer having custody of a public document which a person has a right to inspect to give that person, on demand and on payment of the legal fee, a copy accompanied by the prescribed certification that it is a true copy.
The certificate is to be written at the foot of the copy, dated and subscribed by the officer with the officer's name and official title, and sealed whenever the officer is authorized by law to use a seal. A copy certified in this manner is called a certified copy.
Explanation to Section 76
An officer who, in the ordinary course of official duty, is authorized to deliver such copies is deemed to have custody of the documents for the purposes of Section 76.
How Sections 74, 75 and 76 work together
The three provisions form a connected scheme. Section 74 identifies public documents. Section 75 places other documents in the private-document category. Section 76 then provides the mechanism for obtaining a certified copy where a public officer has custody of a public document and the applicant has a legal right to inspect it. The evidentiary use of certified copies is addressed by the succeeding provisions of the Act, including Sections 77 onward.
Quick distinction
Public document: A document falling within one of the categories specified in Section 74.
Private document: Any document that does not fall within Section 74, by virtue of Section 75.
Certified copy: A copy of an inspectable public document issued and certified by the competent public officer in the manner contemplated by Section 76.
Related provisions
For the next stage of proof, see Sections 77 and 78 - proof by certified copies and proof of other official documents. For presumptions concerning certified copies and records of evidence, see Sections 79 and 80 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
This page is an explanatory legal reference and should be read with the statutory text and the law applicable to the particular proceeding.